1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates generally to anti-slipping devices configured for attachment to athletic shoes particularly shoes of the type worn in playing the game of golf. More particularly, the invention relates to an assembly including a detachable shoe cleat configured for attachment to the sole of a shoe and which is mounted for limited pivoting relative to the shoe sole.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many athletic endeavors require the use of cleated shoes. In athletic sports such as baseball and golf, an athlete must wear cleated shoes to properly swing a bat or a golf club. Cleats having elongated spikes, however, are responsible for damage to playing surfaces such as a grass surface, and have been prohibited from wearing inside many clubhouses because of the damage inflicted on floors and carpets. For example, when swinging a bat or a golf club, the athlete""s feet often twist on the playing surface. During such twisting action, the spikes on the shoe of the athlete, which are implanted in the surface, carve and tear through the surface, creating damaging gouges, tears and rips in the grass surface or, even less desirably, damaging the carpet or flooring.
Damage is also caused to playing surfaces when an athlete changes direction while walking or beginning to walk. For example, when putting, a golfer faces approximately 90 degrees away from the intended target, the hole in the green, when putting toward the hole. After completing a putt, the golfer must turn 90 degrees to walk toward the hole. Commonly, golfers twist while turning and lifting their feet, causing the spikes on their shoes to carve into the surface of the green, resulting in considerable cumulative damage when it is remembered that several golfers will walk on a green in a relatively short period of time.
Another form of damage to a playing surface is caused by simply walking across the playing surface. For example, athletes occasionally drag their feet when walking. This action causes the spikes on their shoes to scrape the surface, resulting in a tearing of the playing surface.
Damage caused by spiked shoes has prompted many golf courses to encourage or even mandate golfers to seek alternatives, especially when walking on greens, which are extremely expensive and easily damaged. One known alternative is to have shoes with spikeless cleats. When wearing spikeless shoes, the twisting action of the wearer does not tend to carve into the playing surface as would be the case if the wearer were not using spiked shoes. Spikeless cleats, however, do not provide sufficient traction to adequately prevent the golf shoes from slipping on the playing surface during the action of a golf swing.
It is also known to provide a rotatable plate having a plurality of spikes, which plate is mounted on the on bottom of the sole of a golf shoe and is configured to rotate about a vertical axis, allowing the spike to remain relatively stationary with respect to the playing surface while the golf shoe itself twists relative to the playing surface. The rotatable plate device, therefore, reduces the damage to playing surfaces caused by twisting feet. However, if the wearer pivots about one of several such spikes on the bottom of the shoe, others will necessarily drag and tear the surface because only rotational motion is permitted for each spike. Moreover, this device is relatively large and complex and does not address the problem associated with the dragging of a wearer""s shoes across a playing surface during a game of golf.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a detachable shoe cleat apparatus which is configured to be attached to the sole of a shoe, such as a golf shoe, and which apparatus inhibits slippage of the shoe across a playing surface, such as a grass surface, and which minimizes damage caused to the surface by the cleat apparatus.
It is another object of the invention to provide a shoe cleat apparatus configured to minimize the size of spike marks formed in the playing surface by the cleat apparatus.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a shoe cleat apparatus which functions in such a manner as to inhibit the scraping of the playing surface by the cleat apparatus as the wearer moves with respect to the playing surface.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a shoe cleat apparatus which facilitates mounting of replaceable spikes.
It is another object of the invention to provide a shoe cleat apparatus which is complementally configured as a replacement for conventional golf spikes and mounts in existing golf cleat receivers.
It is another object of the invention to provide a shoe cleat apparatus whereby multiple cleats can be mounted to a sole of a shoe whereby each spike engaging a surface is capable of independent swiveling relative to the other spikes.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an economical spike which may be made of either metal or synthetic resin and provide satisfactory traction.
These and other objects are largely met by the shoe cleat apparatus of the present invention which minimizes the size of spike marks in a playing surface, is easy to install and, even more importantly, inhibits scraping, tearing or ripping of the surface as a result of the wearer of the shoe cleat apparatus walking across a surface such as, for example, a golf green while still providing improved traction.
The shoe cleat apparatus hereof broadly includes a body which functions as a receptacle for a spike which is mounted for limited swiveling movement therein. The body defines an interior space and has a column which is preferably externally threaded for inserting into a conventional golf shoe spike receiver. The spike includes a shank which has a portion thereof carried within the body, that portion mounting an enlarged head which inhibits undesired dislodgement of the spike from the receiver but permits the spike to be inserted and removed without removal of the receiver from the shoe. The spike is configured and positioned for swinging and rotating movement relative to the receiver, i.e., swiveling, from a neutral position where the longitudinal axis of the elongated spike is aligned and coincident with the longitudinal axis of the interior space of the body to an articulated position where the longitudinal axis of the spike is angled relative to the longitudinal axis of the body. The tip of the spike protrudes from the receptacle and is prevented from receding into the interior space by a collar on the spike which enables the swiveling movement while providing a base which promotes positioning of the spike in a stable, upright position.
The foregoing is accomplished by providing the spike, which has a proximate end and a distal end, with a collar which is engaged by the body, and an enlarged head which is sized and configured to be forced past a neck in the body. The collar having a surface which mates and engages with a seat of the body. The body includes a barrel defining therein the interior space and is preferably externally threaded for screwing into a complementally threaded receptacle in the sole of the shoe. Both the collar and the body around the seat are preferably circular, the diameter of the collar being somewhat smaller than the diameter of the seat to permit limited swiveling of the spike relative to the receiver. Swiveling, as used herein, includes both rotation around the longitudinal axis of the receiver body and tilting along two axes but not up and down translational movement.
Swiveling of the spike with respect to the receiver is further enabled by the sizing of the head and the interior space. The interior space has a somewhat greater transverse dimension or diameter than the transverse dimension or diameter of the head, such that the spike is able to swing and swivel within the barrel of the receiver. Thus, when a moment is applied to the distal end of the spike, the spike is able to swivel and thus swing to a limited degree by the ability of the head at the proximate end to move laterally within the interior space of the barrel of the receiver. On the other hand, when a golfer is standing still, the collar of the spike helps to maintain a stable position by flat engagement with the seat.
The shoe cleat apparatus is configured for removable attachment to the sole of a shoe such as a golf shoe. To this end, the externally threaded barrel of the receiver may be easily screwed into a receptacle complementally configured with internal threads, the receptacle being permanently mounted in the sole as is conventional. The spike may be replaced within the receiver because the head is sized and configured to be forced through the neck of the receiver and removed by pulling therethrough in the same manner. Preferably, the head is slotted to provide two ears which are yieldable when compressed and then, after passing through the narrowed neck, spring back to the original expanded position. The receiver and the spike may be made of metal or of synthetic resin.
By wearing shoes equipped with the shoe cleat apparatus hereof, the tips of the spikes, when embedded in the playing surface, remain relatively stationary with respect to the surface on which the golfer is standing during swinging. As the golfer rotates his or her hips during the swing, one or both feet may shift or pivot. The spikes embedded in the playing surface retain their position, while those on the moving foot may swivel and tilt. When the golfer""s feet lift to walk across the playing surface, such as a golf green, the distal end of the spike is permitted to swivel when engaged by the green, which prevents the spike from digging into the green and causing damage thereto during movement of the golfer across the green.
These and other advantages of the golf cleat apparatus hereof will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art with respect to the drawing and description which follows.